Recap: Gunmen shoot at man in street after forcing their way into family home with two-year-old child inside

Four masked thugs armed with a gun and a hammer burst into a family home before shooting at a man as he fled down his street.

A two-year-old child was at home on Fovant Crescent, North Reddish, when the balaclava-clad gang forced their way inside in broad daylight.

After the victim managed to wrestle a hammer from one of the offenders he was then chased out of the house, before one of the attackers shot at him as he hid behind a car on the quiet residential street.

The gang then made off in a silver Ford Fiesta after the incident at 8.30am on Saturday.

We will bring you the latest updates here.

11:17

Neighbours shocked and upset

Reporter Alex Hibbert has spoken to North Reddish Coun Kate Butler, who expressed her shock at Saturday’s shooting.

She said:

It is hardly surprising that people are so shocked and upset about what has happened. Fovant Crescent is in a very quiet, friendly neighbourhood. In fact all of the streets around Fovant Crescent are generally made up of family homes. It’s a small mercy that it wasn’t on a weekday morning as there would have been plenty of children around – in fact lots of people use the street as a cut-through to get to the local primary schools. It’s a very unusual occurrence that has happened particularly somewhere so quiet and residential. But Reddish is a tight-knit community and I am sure that neighbours are now coming together to support each other. A lot of people know each other around Reddish so this will be felt across the area.”

10:44

Our reporter Chris Slater is at the scene in North Reddish.

10:31

'There could easily have been children in the street'

Detective Inspector Julia Bowden of GMP’s Stockport Division said:

This is obviously a very serious and shocking incident that happened in broad daylight on a Saturday morning when there could quite easily have been children on the street. We are very keen to speak to any witnesses and anyone who knows who is behind this attack. Anybody with information should contact police.”

10:15

Incident not currently being linked to other shootings

At the moment police said they are not linking the incident to other shootings around Greater Manchester.

Officers are appealing for any witnesses or anyone who knows who is behind the attack to contact them.

'It was terrifying'

The witness added:

All the neighbours were watching from their homes, it was terrifying. It was in the morning and if there had been a little child playing outside which they usually do it could have been far worse. They could have been killed. A family live in the house that the men broke into, I think the mum was in there too at the time – to think that the whole family were inside is horrific.”

10:08

Four or five shots fired

A witness to the incident on Saturday morning said:

“The men pulled up in a car and forced their way into the house. Not long later the young lad came out of the house and started running down the road. You could hear him screaming ‘no, no, no’, and then we heard about four or five shots being fired. He was being chased by the men who had pulled up in the car. People were saying one had a shotgun.”